She was very pale, but her eyes devoured the child. ‘Thank the gods, he is alive,’ she whispered. Oh, thanks to the blessed Amida, he’s alive. How did you find him? I have searched everywhere.’
‘Are you responsible for this?’ the old lord shouted, his eyes flashing. ‘He looks like your husband. Is that why you tried to get rid of him?’
She ran to him and knelt, weeping. ‘No, Father, I wanted him. I meant to give that woman all the money we had for him.’
The old man’s claw-like hand pointed a shaking finger at her. ‘You lied to me. You took my son’s son from me.’
She shrank away.
Akitada said, ‘If you would allow me…’ He turned to the boy, ‘What is your name?’
‘Yori,’ said the child, as if the question were foolish. ‘Like my father.’
Lord Masuda’s face softened. ‘Yes, Yori, like his father.’
Akitada said, ‘Well, then perhaps Yori might stay with my wife while Lady Masuda explains.’
‘Oh, please let me take him,’ cried Lady Masuda, rising to her knees.
‘No,’ said her father-in-law, ‘you will stay here and make a clean breast of this.’ He told the servant, ‘Fetch my other daughter.’ As soon as they had gone, he asked, ‘Now, daughter, why did you lie to me about my grandson and his mother?’
She bowed her head. ‘Forgive me, Father. I wished to spare you. You were so ill after my husband died. And you blamed that woman.’
‘That does not excuse your lies.’
She cried, ‘It’s true I was a little jealous, especially after she gave him a son while I was still childless. But after my own son was born, I no longer minded so much.’
‘My son wished to live with that woman and her child. I did not approve, but as he had given me an heir, I permitted it. It was none of your business.’
‘When Mrs Ishikawa said Peony had killed my husband, I reported it to you, but nothing was done, and then my own son passed from this world-’ Her voice broke, and she whispered, ‘You should know what losing a child will do to a parent.’
The old lord compressed his lips, but his expression remained cold. ‘Go on.’
For a moment she trembled on the verge of more tears, then she squared her shoulders and said, ‘It was then that I became obsessed with my husband’s paramour and her child. I had to see her. Kohime was very understanding. She came with me. It was… strange. She was very beautiful, much more beautiful than I. I could see they were poor, and I was glad. I saw the boy playing with his kitten, and I thought if we could buy the child from her, I could raise him. I told his mother I would return with money. She seemed grateful, and he was a sweet boy and my husband’s son.’ She looked pleadingly at Lord Masuda.
He grunted. ‘Because I disliked and distrusted the woman, I believed you when you came to me with the story that she poisoned my son. But if you had brought the child to me, I would have adopted him.’
Lady Masuda wiped her eyes. ‘I went home and gathered up all the gold I could find, and Kohime added what she had saved, and then we went back to her. We told her what we wanted, but she became hysterical and cried she would rather die than sell her child. She snatched up the boy and ran into the garden with him. I was afraid she would do him some harm. Kohime ran after her and tried to take the child.’
Lord Masuda raised a hand to stop her. ‘Here is Kohime now. Let her speak for herself.’
Kohime’s round face was splotchy from weeping, and her hair was disheveled. She threw herself on the floor beside her sister-in-law and knocked her head against the boards. ‘I didn’t mean to kill her,’ she wailed. ‘I thought she was running into the lake with the child and grabbed her. It was an accident, Father.’
The old lord sighed deeply. ‘So you killed her.’
‘We struggled and fell down. She bit and kicked me. She was very strong and I was afraid. My hand found a loose stone on the path and I hit her with it, but she didn’t stop. So I kept hitting her until she stopped moving. I didn’t mean to kill her. I just wanted her to let go of me.’ She burst into more violent tears.
Lady Masuda stroked Kohime’s hair. ‘It was an accident, Father. The boy was trying to help his mother. He had a wooden sword, and he stabbed at Kohime with it. I saw it all from the veranda. When Kohime came running back to me, she was bleeding. I took her into the house to stop the bleeding. She said she had killed that woman.’
A heavy silence fell. Kohime wept quietly. After a moment, Akitada asked, ‘Did you go back to make sure Peony was dead, Lady Masuda?’
She nodded. ‘We were terrified, but we both crept out to look. She was still lying on the path. The boy was beside her, holding her hand. Kohime said, “We must hide the body.” But there was the boy. We could not bring him back here after what had happened.’ She paused and gave her father-in-law a pleading look. ‘We were very frightened that this trouble would bring shame to the family. We thought perhaps we could make it look as if she had fallen into the lake by accident. I would take away the boy, while Kohime would hide the body because she is the stronger. I tried to talk to the child, but it was as if his spirit had fled. His eyes were open, but that was all. He let me take him, and I carried him away from the house. I did not know what to do with him. When I came to the fish market, I saw a woman packing up to return to her village. I offered her all the money we had brought to take the child.’
Akitada muttered, ‘All that gold, and the Mimuras beat and starved the boy.’
She flinched as if he had struck her.
Lord Masuda moved impatiently. ‘And you, Kohime? What did you do?’
Kohime, the peasant girl in the fine silks of a noblewoman, said with childlike simplicity, ‘I put Peony in the lake. It wasn’t far. People thought she’d drowned herself.’
‘Amida!’ exclaimed Lord Masuda. ‘What a fool you are. You are both fools and you deserve to be punished. I do not care what happens to either of you.’
Akitada looked at the two women who had caused such tragedy: one because she was a simpleton, and the other because she had been half mad with grief and jealousy. He thought what it must have been like to be the rejected wife tending to her dying child and remembered watching his own son die. He said, ‘My Lord, no good can come from a public disclosure now. Peony’s death was a tragic accident. It’s her son’s future that matters.’
The old lord said harshly, ‘Kohime killed another human being.’
‘Not intentionally. Peony drowned after she was put in the lake. I believe it was getting dark, and two hysterical women made the mistake of thinking an unconscious woman dead.’
‘Kohime,’ shouted the old man, his voice trembling with anger, ‘Did you hear that? You idiot! She probably wasn’t dead! You drowned her.’
Kohime stared at him. Her face was swollen, her nose ran, and her mouth gaped. She looked ugly and pathetic. ‘No, she must have been dead.’
Lord Masuda turned from her in disgust.
Akitada cleared his throat. ‘I think that the ladies, no matter how misguided, acted out of loyalty to you and your family. Let’s not forget that they could not consult you in the matter and had no one to turn to.’
‘You are generous,’ Lord Masuda said after a long moment. ‘I will, of course, adopt my grandson and raise him as my heir.’ He glowered at his daughters-in-law. ‘You two deserve to be beaten and sent away for what you did, but my son was unkind to both of you and yet you have stayed here and served me after his death. You shall be provided for if you obey my decision.’
Kohime sobbed, but Lady Masuda said quite humbly, ‘Thank you, Father. We are both deeply grateful.’
Her father-in-law nodded. ‘You, as my son’s first lady, may stay to run this household and raise Peony’s son to atone to him for his suffering. Kohime, you and your daughters will leave my house. You will reside in the lake villa. There you will pray daily for the soul of the poor woman you killed.’ He looked sternly at the two women. ‘Will you agree to this?’